


After Fate's Done with Us

by YellowMagicalGirl



Series: When Fate Plays Chess [2]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Angst, Autistic Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan, Dissociation, Evil Merlin (Tales of Arcadia), Gen, Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan has PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Hurt/Comfort, Jim Lake Jr. has PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Mental Health Issues, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, No Beta We Die Like Draal, Not Canon Compliant, Not Wizards Compliant (Tales of Arcadia), POV Jim Lake Jr. (Tales of Arcadia), POV Third Person Limited, PTSD - Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Past Mind Control, Post-3Below (Tales of Arcadia), Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-29
Updated: 2021-01-29
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:22:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,047
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29055078
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/YellowMagicalGirl/pseuds/YellowMagicalGirl
Summary: Months after being freed from Merlin's hold, Douxie and Jim finally have a conversation they've been putting off.
Relationships: Hisirdoux "Douxie" Casperan & Jim Lake Jr.
Series: When Fate Plays Chess [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1888429
Comments: 5
Kudos: 15





	After Fate's Done with Us

**Author's Note:**

> This was written for a tumblr prompt asking for the line "Can I have one" with Jim&Douxie

Jim hasn't hung out with Douxie before. No, that isn't quite true. Even though the two of them are in different grades and go to rival schools, Jim doesn't have many friends that aren't mutual friends of Douxie's. Thus, the two of them have hung out many times together, but they haven't spoken much, and the two of them have certainly never hung out alone together. Not until now, at least. Claire is supposed to meet up with the two of them at Jim's house, but her mom had sprung a last minute event on her and Claire hasn't been able to shadow portal away yet. She claimed that she was going to try, but as the minutes pass neither of the two boys are too sure.

The silence is a little awkward, to say the least. Then again, it's entirely possible that only Jim finds the silence awkward. Douxie had seemed content to put on earbuds and play with the skull pendent he always wears. Jim supposes that it is only natural for their relationship to be as awkward as the silence is. The first time they had been alone together, they had pulled fireballs and glaives on each other. Douxie had done so willingly and Jim...

Jim doesn't want to think about that time. Thankfully, the oven starts beeping to tell him his timer is done, so Jim leans down and opens the oven. Inside it is a baking sheet full of cookies. They're a recipe that is appetizing to both humans and trolls. Jim pulls them out with his bare hands; it's an advantage to being a half-troll.

"Can I have one?" Jim startles slightly and turns to find Douxie staring at the cookies. He must have used magic to move so silently to Jim's side. As Douxie waits for Jim to answer, he tugs the earbuds out of his ears. Some rock song pours out of them with a loud enough volume that makes Jim wonder if Douxie is using magic to prevent hearing damage.

"You'll burn your mouth," Jim says as he closes the oven. Douxie nods and backs away, putting one earbud back on. It's odd, but Jim has a hard time matching up the bravado and daring that Douxie had displayed with the quiet boy walking back to the dining room. But the trollhunter shouldn't be having such a hard time. Mordred had fought against the trollhunter, and losing his hand had broken Mordred into a weapon. The trollhunter had been a better weapon, of course. A loyal weapon. A wave of cold floods through Jim's bones, and he finds himself clutching his horns and kneeling on the ground. He hears the sound of pounding footsteps.

"Jim?" Douxie kneels in front of him. "You need to breathe. Slowly."

Jim hasn't even realized just how hard it is to breathe until now. He should have realized, of course, because the sound of his own hyperventilating is now so incredibly loud in his own ears. Jim tries to ask the question "how" but even though his lips make the movements he can't put noise to his words. He looks up and makes eye contact. Douxie flinches and looks to his right to avoid it.

"Just, try to mirror my breathing," Douxie says. Jim follows the order, careful to keep from making eye contact. It's embarrassing, just how long it takes just to remember how to breathe.

"I know he's dead but, do you ever feel like Merlin might try to take control of you again?" Jim asks. He regrets it as in his peripheral vision he watches Mordred's eyes grow hollow at the question. It's a look Jim recognizes from after Claire's possession, and every nightmare or flashback to it thereafter. It's a look that Jim recognizes from his own face in a mirror, these last few months after they defeated Merlin. It’s a look Jim recognizes in the reflection off his armor, every time he says the full incantation to summon the silver armor and sword of daylight.

"Not exactly," Mordred says as he twists the string of his hoodie back and forth. "Not Merlin, but fate itself, even though it'd been Merlin all along." Douxie stuffs his right hand in his pocket, like it is cold, but Jim doesn't know if he can feel temperature through the black metal.

"I'm sorry," Jim says.

"It's not your fault you get flashbacks. And I grew up with... all that. Long before your time."

"No, not that." Jim gestures at Mordred's right arm. "I'm sorry I didn't do more to help you."

"What could you have done?"

Jim opens his mouth and closes it. It's not even like he can claim that he could have fought back harder, not when what little he had of his own mind in that state was devoted to fighting off the magic that Merlin had woven into Jim's crystalline bones and stone skin.

"Besides, you were nicer than my cousin," Mordred continues. "Do... have you found a therapist?"

"Not really. I mean, I've tried multiple ones, but it's not like any of the ones I've been to in Arcadia are trained to deal with mind control, and I can't exactly go to a human one in the next town over." Not without lying, at least. "Strickler's been trying to see if any of his contacts from the Janus Order are still around, but they all went underground after the massacre... Have you been able to find one?"

"I mean, I tried going to the one Steve recommended to me, but like you said, mind control. And while possession and mind control aren't exactly the same I've asked Claire and..."

"And she hasn't found one." Apparently Claire had tried going to her family therapist - the same one her mom had tried to recommend to _his_ mom - for her anxiety, but given how badly Morgana had messed up her psyche he was far from as effective as he used to be.

"Yeah. So I was wondering if you..." Douxie trails off and looks away. "Are the cookies ready yet?"

Jim rolls his eyes at the obvious but needed change in subject and stands up, helping Douxie to stand afterwards. "Not unless you know a spell to cool them off."


End file.
